New Christmas parade route a hit

Nov 26, 2008 (Messenger-Inquirer - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- TWX | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- With Saturday's 2008 Owensboro-Daviess County Christmas Parade now in the books, the work to put on next year's event began Tuesday.

Organizers gathered to talk about what went right and what could be improved after this year's march through downtown Owensboro that drew thousands of spectators.

"A lot of people don't realize that it takes a whole year to plan a parade," said parade chairman Kevin Bruner.

This year marked a shift to an east-west parade route along Second Street to avoid some of the complications with the former route in the past that included problems with train traffic and blocking major thoroughfares.

For the past 35 years, the parade -- billed as the biggest Christmas parade in the state -- has headed north from West Ninth Street along Frederica Street.

But train traffic has been increasing along the line that crosses Frederica Street just north of West 12th Street, which has led to some near misses -- and at least one hit -- in the parade's staging area.

In 2006, a train clipped the edge of a float, but luckily the float went on to finish third in the judging that year.

Officer Marian Cosgrove with the Owensboro Police Department said things ran smoothly with the parade this year from the department's standpoint.

"I thought it went great," Cosgrove said.

There will need to be some changes and modifications to better adjust to the new downtown route, which ran along Second Street from Pearl Street to Walnut Street near the Executive Inn Rivermont, Bruner said.

The old route was changing from year to year to try to make things run more smoothly, Bruner said.

"We made minor changes to it through the years," Bruner said. "We'll tweak this route, too."

The new route did require fewer officers from the Owensboro Police Department, which was a plus, Bruner said.

"That kept our costs down and freed those guys up to do more important things than blocking streets," Bruner said.

Part of the challenge was rerouting traffic off of Second Street, which is a main route through town. In some ways that was easier than the traffic changes required when the parade marched along Frederica, Bruner said.

"We went into this with a learning curve, and it was a learning experience," Bruner said. "There were some traffic control issues that we didn't anticipate."

Feedback from the public about the new route has been positive, though some prefer the old route. One comment was that Second Street was too dark because several streetlights were out, an issue that will be fixed for next year's event, Bruner said.

"Some liked it better, but of course there are some people who don't like change," Bruner said.

Those who missed the parade or who want a second look can view the two-hour event on Time Warner cable channel 8.

A broadcast of this year's parade will be played back at 4 p.m. Thursday for Thanksgiving and then twice a week -- Wednesdays at 6 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. -- until Christmas.

A list of the winners from the parade is available at christmasparade.net.

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